Improvement in bee-hives



BRISTOL 61, ALVERSON. 5

Bee Hive.

Patented Dct. 9, 1866.

'UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

L. O. BRISTOL AND O. T. ALVERSON, OF VICTOR, NEYV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BEE-HIVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,585, dated October 9, 1866.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, L. G. BRISTOL and O. T. ALVERSON, ot Victor, in the county of Ontario and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bee- ]Elives; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a transverse vertical section of our invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation ot' a section of the front ot the hive, showing the variable plate Rand a face view of one ofthe veit tilators O.

This invention consists mainly in such a construction and relative arrangement ot' the ventilators in the inner and outer cases of the hive as to constitute a thorough. ventilation of the intervening space, and also of the inner hive.

To enable others to make and use our invention, we 'will describe its construction and opera-tion.

XVe construct the outer case, A, of any desired form or size, with several ventilators O in the sides, of ordinary construction. Within this case we place the case B, to which the comb-t`rames l) are attached. This case B should be made so as to afford a space, F, of one-fourth of an inch or more between the two cases. This space is equalized on all sides by means of centeringguides G, fixed in the angle of the inner case, and the sup11 ortingbars E at each corner, which are also rigidly attached to the inner case, B.

It has been t'ound that when this inner case is ventilated only by means of the ordinary ventilators O, which are guarded within by wire-gauze l), which prevents the passage of the bees, they immediately seal them up with wax, and of course thereby cut off all ventilation to the upper portion of the case B. To prevent this, We provide this case with a long slot, a, Fig. l, sufficiently large to permit the bees to pass through freely; and when they can do that they will leave it open, because they will then be Aable to allow no millers or the like to lodge within the openings. This plan really effects the most thorough ventilation to all parts of the inner case, B, during the hot season.

As the guide-bars J of the comb-frames D have been made heretofore, the loa-ded combs were veryliable to become detached and broken in removing the frames from the case. We avoid this by shaping the bars transversely, as shown in Fig. 1, which affords more surface tor the bees to attach to. It also constitutes a sort of dovetail connection for the comb.

It is sometimes desirable to entirely close the entrance, as indicated by the dotted lines d, to the hive, as shown in Fig. 2. At other times it may be necessary to close it sutticiently to enable one or two bees to guard the hive, which is done by turning the disk R so as to cause the opening c to register with the entrance d. To permit the passage ot' the workers and prevent the escape of the queen the disk should be turned with the opening e down.

The slot f affords a full opening, and the slot g two-thirds or less.

The ventilators O at the top of the outer case do not register with those, u, in the inner case; therefore no light is admitted into the case B when the outer ventilators are open.

The hive may be provided with an extra case on the top, in which may be placed the ordinary glass boxes. Y

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The relative arrangement ot' the ventilators O with the ventilators a and double hives A B, as shown and described, and for the purposes setforth.

L. C. BRISTOL. C. T. ALVERSON.

Witnesses WM. S. LoUGHBcUeH, L. M. NEWTON. 

